(WS News) – President Donald Trump held back-to-back meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, as Washington weighs its next moves on both the war in Ukraine and escalating tensions with Iran.
The two leaders were in Washington primarily to attend the funeral of Senator Lindsey Graham, a longtime advocate for both Ukraine and Israel, but their visits gave each an opportunity for direct, separate talks with Trump in the Oval Office. Neither meeting was open to the press, and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt described both sessions as “positive and productive” once they had concluded.
Following his meeting, Zelenskyy said he and Trump discussed licenses that would allow Ukraine to produce Patriot missile interceptors domestically, along with broader efforts to reinvigorate stalled diplomacy aimed at ending the war with Russia. “The President and I discussed licenses for Patriot interceptor production and several other ideas that could help,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media, thanking the United States for its continued support.
The Zelenskyy meeting was the two leaders’ first sit-down since they crossed paths on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Turkey earlier in the month, and it comes as the war in Ukraine stretches into its fifth year with no clear end in sight.
Trump’s meeting with Netanyahu touched on the ongoing conflict with Iran, which has centered in recent months on Iranian nuclear infrastructure, including a fortified underground facility that has drawn close scrutiny from both Washington and Jerusalem. The sit-down came at a moment of notable strain between the two leaders, whose alliance has been tested in recent weeks even as Trump has continued to voice strong public support for Israel.
The dual meetings underscore how intertwined the two conflicts have become for U.S. foreign policy, with American forces recently engaged in strikes against Iran-backed militias in Iraq after they targeted U.S. troops and Saudi oil facilities. Trump has signaled he is prepared to escalate further if Iran does not agree to a deal, while continuing to push for a diplomatic path to end the fighting in Ukraine.
Neither meeting produced an announced breakthrough, but officials from both delegations indicated further talks would follow in the coming weeks as Washington continues to navigate its role in both conflicts simultaneously.
